I've actually taken to turning the Drengin's intelligence down a notch or two below everybody else to keep it "fair". They seem to be a problem no matter what morality they're set to.

I find that all the races (even the good ones) try to extort races that are militarily weaker then they are. That is why it is really important to keep up militarily.

Trade with the little bastards,uh Drengin.Get up that tech tree to trade.Or what I do with my first moral decisions is go nuetral or evil,yeah I know situational ethics,(hey Im a product of public schools),Once your powerful enough you can get religion later and play nice with the Saintly Alterians.Just spread your trade around for the inevitable falling out after the honeymoon is over with the evil cures.In my small galaxy with all AIs set to intelligent i had a warm relationship with the skin lovers.
What does chaotic good mean and what is the scale exactly.

Don't you love the thrill you experience when you discover that you direct neibour are the Drengin.
This thread shows that most of the people react differently with the Drengin
I thinks it is great.

~SDC~

I have noted that the drengins are always the first one to discover trade and diplomacy. Always.
I wonder why that warfare race always wan't diplomacy and Trade so early on

They want diplomacy in order to be able to extort large sums of cash out of other races. They want trade because it's a printing press for money to run their war machine.

The Dregin are the most powerful civ in 60% of the games I play where all civs are set to equal A.I. rating. The Dregin start off strong and the other civs seem unable to compete after that. Out of 20 or so games the Yor were only the strongest once, the Torian once, and the Arcean and Altarians split the difference.

IT IS DISAPPOINTING that I really only have to worry about 3 races (Dregin, Arcean and Altarian). The Yor and Torian really need some kind of tweak.

The NUMBER ONE AI DEFICIENCY is that AI civs don't cooperate against stronger civs. Sometimes the Torian and Altarians ally, but they still don't cooperate.

I haven't seen any one race stand above the others. They've all had their time in the sun in my games thus far. It seems to be pretty much what you'd expect... starting position, luck in battle, etc. Although the Torians and Yor have given me trouble now and then.

My current game has had two dramatic exceptions:

- Altarians stuck in a corner with one class 15 world. When I invaded I first tried demanding money and they were -300 or so, and their sole planet was morale 26. They didn't last long.

- Drengin gave up! They were squeezed between the Torians and Yor and apparently was their personal whipping boy most of the game. All of a sudden I got a message from them saying they were giving up.

A hint: always have military balance showing in the chart display. If you are getting too low (varies, but if you have less than half the leader, you are in trouble), the evil extortionists will come calling ... and some good peacekeeping forces decided that YOU need to supply them.

Defenders are the cheapest early game way to get up your military strength - 4 pts for 50 hammers.

You can speak however you like, but if you don't carry a big stick, noone will listen.


~SDC~

In my games, all of the AI civilizations have been the team to beat at one time or another. I personally hate the Arceans, but in my last game I only beat the Yor because the Altarians and the Torians joined the war on my side.

I had another game where the Torians really waxed the rest of us; the Drengins came to me begging for help, but I was already up to my eyeballs in Torian ships.

Am I the only one who finds it amusing when the Drengin refer to a human as "monkey-boy?"


RR

The Drengin are pretty powerful. I never figured out how they always manage to get their population and production up so high. In the middle if I do a production display on the planets the Drengin have these huge circles where mine are only moderate. Sorta sucks when 2 of their battle hammers can kill your dreadnaughts too

~SDC~

I think all this depends on how you play. In MY games, the most powerful are generally the Yor...

That's what this game needs...lots of Buckaroo Banzai quotes. "Not my god-damned planet, monkeyboy."

~SDC~

Your all wrong its the sub-race the I-Leauge who are the strongest. Sound strange?well considering they can pretty much reduce your(and other civs.) planets thrugh defection they can quickly screw ya over to the point of ultamate defeat either by them or another race do to their weakening your econemy/war waging ability.

The problem I have is that I hate the way the Torians look. I just hate them. I have found myself seeking them out first in my games for no real reason. I have actually lost a couple of games because I dedicate my entire economy to killing those bastards. I just hate them.

> #14 by Avatar Frogboy - 4/14/2003 11:04:59 PM
>
> Try making them good.

I occassionally play with the roles reversed (Drengin-Yor good axis; Altarians-Torians evil axis). The Drengin often end up being at the top of the heap, too. In two games, they required a "pacifist" fee. I eventually reject it and they come after me. In one case I was good and another neutral.

When I was good, the Yor (also good) told me the Drengin were getting too powerful and we needed to work together to take them out.

In both games, the evil/neutral folk ended up migrating to a friendly/close attitude toward me because I was more powerful than they and the polar opposites--the good--where picking on them.

Quite an interesting twist in behavior (well, except for the Drengin).

/ds

I've never lost a planet to defection to the I-League or the Fundamentalists. I think I caused both to come into being through destabilization spending, however.

~SDC~

I should clarify: I do my best to keep morale above 50, but not by much. I don't build very many social projects outside the low-to-zero maintenance buildings. If a planet does have low morale, I rush build (if I have the funds) planet quality improvements before I touch stuff that raises morale, since they usually cost maintenance.

If I get a report that a particular race is destabilizing my empire, I start giving the lowest morale planets some propaganda spending.

~SDC~

I make the AIs morality random every game. Makes things more interesting.

Set planet inhabitability to it's rarest, and you'll see some amazing things on the "Most Powerful Civ" List. One time, The terrans were #1 and #2-#4 (or was it #2-#5?) were all "minor" races. Seems the minors cope much better than the majors when it comes to a galaxy with few inhabitable planets.

If you are evil the Drengin will offer to cuddle with you. So I usually go the evil route, rush up the trade route,
and my first two freighters go to Drengin planets. Once you start giving them x credits a turn from trade they are less likely to bother you.

What are the main advantages between Evil and Good really? Besides the diplomacy effect.

Evil choices give immediate rewards. Good choices keep the Altarians off your back.

If you want to play just to win, I think evil choices work better in small galaxies, and good choices work better in larger galaxies. This is because the bonuses you get for evil choices are a lot more significant in small/short games.

Bah the stupid Drengin just screwed me. Here i am fighting the Yor (who own like half the galaxy) and the Drengin who were building ships in peace while millions died in the no man's land between me and the yor, suddenly decide that since their military is technically greater then mine (i had just fought a major battle against the Yor) declare war on ME, despite the fact that i represent 35% of their economy!
and then just in case you thought it might be becuase they were friends with the Yor, the Yor declare war on them a few turns later! The Torians surrender to the Altarians who are as far as i can see cowering in a corner. The whole galaxy is doomed now becuase of those bloody apes!

P.S why dont i ever find any precursor devices that turn one of my systems into a bloody Dyson Sphere?

I say we start a petition agaisnt the Drengin. Just take them out of the game. There's no point for them there. They're ugly, annoying, and ill-tempered. Hehehe, jk guys!